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Changes in Industrial Structure in the Australian Construction Industry: Causes and Implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Phillip Toner
Phillip Toner*
Affiliation:
Employment Studies Centre, University of Newcastle
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Abstract

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This paper examines changes in the firm-size and industrial structure of the private Australian construction industry that have occurred over the last two decades and assesses their causes and implications. The primary data source is ABS Construction Censuses. There has been significant change in the structure of production in the construction industry with a large decline in firm size and rapid growth of output and employment in the specialist sub-contractors segment. These changes are explained largely as a result of increased subcontracting and outsourcing by larger firms to smaller firms. The changes in firm-size and industrial structure have had an adverse effect on construction productivity; OH&S performance; skilled trade shortages and expenditures on innovation and R&D in the industry.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , December 2000 , pp. 291 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2000

Footnotes

*

The author would like to acknowledge the helpful comments of Richard Denniss and John Burgess of the Economics Department, Newcastle University; Evan Jones, Economics Department, Sydney University and Gerard de Valence, Department of Building, University of Technology, Sydney. The comments of an anonymous referee were also very valuable. An earlier version of some of the data and arguments appeared in Croce N., Green R., Mills B. and Toner P. (1999) Constructing the Future. A Study of Major Building Construction in Australia, Employment Studies Centre, Research Report, University of Newcastle.

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